Microsoft acquiring GitHub for $7.5 billion

Microsoft announced Monday it will pay $7.5 billion in stock for GitHub, the largest source code repository in the world.

GitHub is a platform where software developers can go to host and review each other’s code. It is free to use GitHub for open-source projects, but some developers and businesses pay a monthly fee to access private code repositories and other services. It also has an enterprise version for use by large-scale software development teams and an education program that offers students free access to popular coding tools.

The San Francisco-based startup was founded in 2008 and has over 25 million software developers globally using its platform to share and collaborate on code.

Moody’s analyst Richard Lane said the deal reflects Microsoft’s “ongoing pivot to open source software, seeking to further broaden its large and growing development community.” It also reflects the increasing importance of cloud computing software and the development of internet-connected devices, Lane said.

GitHub’s co-founder and current CEO, Chris Wanstrath, will join Microsoft as a technical fellow to work on software initiatives. Wanstrath will be replaced as CEO by Nat Friedman, the former CEO of Xamarin, which Microsoft acquired in 2016.

Wanstrath said in a blog post Monday that he could never have imagined this deal a decade ago, when “Git was a powerful but niche tool, clouds were just things in the sky, and Microsoft was a very different company.” Now, he said, “Microsoft is the most active organization on GitHub in the world.”

The deal sparked some fears in the GitHub community that Microsoft’s corporate takeover could ruin the experience. Some developers say they are planning to look for alternatives. But Julie Lerman, a GitHub user who works as a Microsoft liaison with freelance developers, cautiously welcomed the partnership.

“It’s a logical and rational step for Microsoft,” she said. “GitHub has been looking for leadership and help for a while now. Microsoft has already made a huge investment in GitHub with so much of their development platform and tooling and even their docs on GitHub. They are in a position to help GitHub.”